Selection Switches

--class=CLASS

The --class switch is used to specify a group of data to process. Only a single class may be selected with the --class switch; for multiple classes, use the --flowtypes switch. Classes are defined in the silk.conf(5) site configuration file. If the --class option is not given, the default-class as specified in silk.conf is used. To see the available classes and the default class, either examine the output from rwfilter --help or invoke rwsiteinfo(1) with the switch --fields=class,default-class.

--type={"all" | TYPE[,TYPE]}

The --type predicate further specifies data within the selected CLASS by listing the TYPEs of traffic to process. The switch takes a comma-separated list of types or the keyword "all" which specifies all types for the specified CLASS. Types are defined in silk.conf, they typically refer to the direction of the flow, and they may vary by class. When the --type switch is not specified, a list of default types is used. The default-type list is determined by the value of CLASS, and the default types generally include only incoming traffic. To see the available types and the default types for each class, examine the --help output of rwfilter or run rwsiteinfo with --fields=class,type,default-type.

--flowtypes=CLASS/TYPE[,CLASS/TYPE ...]

The --flowtypes predicate provides an alternate way to specify class/type pairs. The --flowtypes switch allows a single rwfilter invocation to process data from multiple classes. The keyword "all" may be used for the CLASS and/or TYPE to select all classes and/or types.

--sensors=SENSOR[,SENSOR ...]

The --sensor switch is used to select data from specific sensors. The parameter is a comma separated list of sensor names, sensor IDs (integers), and/or ranges of sensor IDs. Sensors are defined in the silk.conf(5) site configuration file, and the rwsiteinfo(1) command can be used to print a mapping of sensor names to IDs and classes. When the --sensor switch is not specified, the default is to use all sensors which are valid for the specified class(es).

--start-date=YYYY/MM/DD[:HH]

--end-date=YYYY/MM/DD[:HH]

The date predicates indicate which days and hours to consider when creating the list of files. The dates may be expressed as seconds since the UNIX epoch or in "YYYY/MM/DD[:HH]" format, where the hour is optional. A "T" may be used in place of the ":" to separate the day and hour. Whether the "YYYY/MM/DD[:HH]" strings represent times in UTC or the local timezone depend on how SiLK was compiled. To determine how your version of SiLK was compiled, see the "Timezone support" setting in the output from rwfilter --version.

When times are expressed in "YYYY/MM/DD[:HH]" format:

--data-rootdir=ROOT_DIRECTORY

Tell rwfilter to use ROOT_DIRECTORY as the root of the data repository, which overrides the location given in the SILK_DATA_ROOTDIR environment variable, which in turn overrides the location that was compiled into rwfilter (/data). It is an error to specify this switch when files are specified on the command line or "Non-Selection Input Switches" are given.

--print-missing-files

This option prints to the standard error the names of the files that rwfilter's file selection switches expected to find but did not. The file names are preceded by the text 'Missing '; each file name appears on a separate line. This switch is useful for debugging, but the list of files it produces can be misleading. For example, suppose there is a decommissioned sensor that still appears in the silk.conf file; rwfilter considers these data files as missing even though their absence is expected. Use the output from this switch judiciously. It is an error to specify this switch when files are specified on the command line or "Non-Selection Input Switches" are given.

Non-Selection Input Switches

--xargs

--xargs=INPUT_PATH

Read the names of the input files from INPUT_PATH or from the standard input if INPUT_PATH is not provided. The input is expected to have one filename per line. rwfilter opens each named file in turn and reads records from it as if the filenames had been listed on the command line.

--input-pipe=INPUT_PATH

Specify a source for SiLK Flow records, where INPUT_PATH is a named pipe or the string "stdin" or "-" to represent the standard input. You do not need to use this switch, you can simply specify the named pipe or the strings "stdin" or "-" on the command line. NOTE: This switch is deprecated, and it will be removed in the SiLK 4.0 release.

Output Switches

--all-destination=ALL_PATH

Write every SiLK Flow record to ALL_PATH, where ALL_PATH refers to a file, a named pipe, the string "stderr" to refer to the standard error, or the strings "stdout" or "-" to refer to the standard output. This switch may be repeated to write all input records to multiple locations.

--fail-destination=FAIL_PATH

Write SiLK Flow records that have failed ANY of the partitioning predicates to FAIL_PATH, where FAIL_PATH refers to a non-existent file, a named pipe, the string "stderr" to refer to the standard error, or the strings "stdout" or "-" to refer to the standard output. This switch may be repeated to write records that fail any predicate to multiple locations.

--pass-destination=PASS_PATH

Write SiLK Flow records that have passed ALL of the partitioning predicates to PASS_PATH, where PASS_PATH refers to a non-existent file, a named pipe, the string "stderr" to refer to the standard error, or the strings "stdout" or "-" to refer to the standard output. This switch may be repeated to write records that pass every predicate to multiple locations.

--print-statistics

--print-statistics=STATS_PATH

Print a one line summary specifying the number of files processed, the total number of records read, the number of records that passed all partitioning predicates, and the number of records that failed. If STATS_PATH is provided, the summary is printed there; otherwise it is printed to the standard error. This switch cannot be mixed with --print-volume-statistics. When running rwfilter with multiple threads and --max-pass-records or --max-fail-records is specified, the statistics may not match the number of records written by rwfilter.

--print-volume-statistics

--print-volume-statistics=STATS_PATH

Print a four line summary of rwfilter's processing. For each of all records, records that pass all the partitioning predicates, and records that fail, print the number of flow records and the number of packets and bytes represented by those flow records. The output also includes the number of files processed. If STATS_PATH is provided, the summary is printed there; otherwise it is printed to the standard error. This switch cannot be mixed with --print-statistics. When running rwfilter with multiple threads and --max-pass-records or --max-fail-records is specified, the statistics may not match the number of records written by rwfilter.

Partitioning Switches

Each partitioning switch defines a test. These tests can be grouped into several broad categories; within each category, the tests are applied in the order in which the switches appear on the command line. The categories of the partitioning tests are:

• tests for IP addresses (including the IPset checks), ports, protocol, times, TCP flags, byte and packet counts, IP version, application, country codes
• tests based on the --tuple-file switch
• tests that use the address type or prefix map mapping files
• tests that use the IP-Association plug-in
• tests based on the --python-expr and --python-file switches
• tests defined in C-plugins and loaded via --plugin

Partitioning Switches for IP Addresses

There are three families of switches that partition based on an IP address. Each family can partition by the source IP, the destination IP, the next hop IP, or either source or destination IP. Each family includes a --not-* variant to reverse the sense of the test.

The --*cidr-family takes as its argument an IP_OR_CIDR_LIST, which is a single IP address 10.1.2.3, a single CIDR block "FF01::/16", or a comma separated list of IPs and/or CIDR blocks "10.0.1.0/24,10.0.2.3,10.0.4.0/24". The IP_OR_CIDR_LIST supports IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

The --*set-family requires that you store the IPs in a binary IPset file and pass the name of the file to the switch. IPset files are created from SiLK Flow records with rwset(1), or from textual input with rwsetbuild(1).

The --*address-family (which includes --next-hop-id) takes as its argument a single IP address, a single CIDR block, or a single SiLK IP Wildcard. A SiLK IP Wildcard may represent multiple, disjointed IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. An IP Wildcard contains an IP in its canonical form, except each part of the IP (where part is an octet for IPv4 or a hexadectet for IPv6) may be a single value, a range, a comma separated list of values and ranges, or the letter "x" to signify any value for that part of the IP (that is, "0-255" for IPv4). You may not specify a CIDR suffix when using the IP Wildcard notation. The following IP_WILDCARDs all represent the same value:

 ::ffff:0:0/112
 ::ffff:0:x
 ::ffff:0:aaab-ffff,aaaa,0-aaa9
 ::ffff:0.0.0.0/112
 ::ffff:0.0.128-254,0-126,255,127.x

The next hop address often has a value of 0.0.0.0 since the default configuration of SiLK does not store the next hop address in the data repository.

With one restriction, any combination of IP partitioning switches is allowed in a single rwfilter invocation: A positive and negative version of the same switch (e.g., --sipset and --not-sipset) is not allowed. (--sipset and --not-scidr may be used together, as can --sipset and --not-dipset.)

The address-partitioning switches are:

--scidr=IP_OR_CIDR_LIST

Pass the record if its source IP address matches a value in IP_OR_CIDR_LIST, a comma separated list of IPs and/or CIDR blocks. See also --saddress and --sipset.

--dcidr=IP_OR_CIDR_LIST

Pass the record if its destination IP address matches a value in IP_OR_CIDR_LIST. See also --daddress and --dipset.

--any-cidr=IP_OR_CIDR_LIST

Pass the record if either its source or its destination IP address matches a value in IP_OR_CIDR_LIST. This switch does not consider the next hop IP address. See also --any-address and --anyset.

--nhcidr=IP_OR_CIDR_LIST

Pass the record if its next hop IP address matches a value in IP_OR_CIDR_LIST. See also --next-hop-id and --nhipset.

--not-scidr=IP_OR_CIDR_LIST

Pass the record if its source IP address does not match a value in IP_OR_CIDR_LIST, a comma separated list of IPs and/or CIDR blocks. See also --not-saddress and --not-sipset.

--not-dcidr=IP_OR_CIDR_LIST

Pass the record if its destination IP address does not match a value in IP_OR_CIDR_LIST. See also --not-daddress and --not-dipset.

--not-any-cidr=IP_OR_CIDR_LIST

Pass the record if neither its source nor its destination IP address matches a value in IP_OR_CIDR_LIST. See also --not-any-address and --not-anyset.

--not-nhcidr=IP_OR_CIDR_LIST

Pass the record if its next hop IP address does not match a value in IP_OR_CIDR_LIST. See also --not-next-hop-id and --not-nhipset.

--saddress=IP_WILDCARD

Pass the record if its source IP address is matched by the SiLK IP Wildcard IP_WILDCARD. To match on multiple IPs, use --scidr or create an IPset and use --sipset.

--daddress=IP_WILDCARD

Pass the record if its destination IP address is matched by IP_WILDCARD, a SiLK IP Wildcard. See also --dcidr and --dipset.

--any-address=IP_WILDCARD

Pass the record if either its source or its destination IP address is matched by IP_WILDCARD, a SiLK IP Wildcard. This switch does not consider the next hop IP address. See also --any-cidr and --anyset.

--next-hop-id=IP_WILDCARD

Pass the record if its next hop IP address is matched by this IP_WILDCARD, a SiLK IP Wildcard. To match on multiple IPs, use --nhcidr or create an IPset and use --nhipset.

--not-saddress=IP_WILDCARD

Pass the record if its source IP address is not matched by this IP_WILDCARD, a SiLK IP Wildcard. See also --not-scidr and --not-sipset.

--not-daddress=IP_WILDCARD

Pass the record if its destination IP address is not matched by this IP_WILDCARD. See also --not-dcidr and --not-dipset.

--not-any-address=IP_WILDCARD

Pass the record if neither its source nor its destination IP address is matched by this IP_WILDCARD. Does not consider the next hop address. See also --not-any-cidr and --not-anyset.

--not-next-hop-id=IP_WILDCARD

Pass the record if its next hop IP address is not matched by this IP_WILDCARD. See also --not-nhcidr and --not-nhipset.

--sipset=IP_SET_FILENAME

Pass the record if its source IP address is in the list of IPs contained in the binary set file IP_SET_FILENAME. See also --scidr.

--dipset=IP_SET_FILENAME

As --sipset for the destination IP address. See also --dcidr.

--anyset=IP_SET_FILENAME

Pass the record if either its source IP address or its destination IP address is in the list of IPs contained in the binary set file IP_SET_FILENAME. Does not consider the next hop IP. See also --any-cidr.

--nhipset=IP_SET_FILENAME

As --sipset for the next-hop IP address. See also --nhcidr.

--not-sipset=IP_SET_FILENAME

Pass the record if its source IP address is not in the list of IPs contained in the binary set file IP_SET_FILENAME. See also --not-scidr.

--not-dipset=IP_SET_FILENAME

As --not-sipset for the destination IP address. See also --not-dcidr.

--not-anyset=IP_SET_FILENAME

Pass the record if neither its source IP address nor its destination IP address is in the list of IPs contained in the binary set file IP_SET_FILENAME. Does not consider the next hop IP. See also --not-any-cidr.

--not-nhipset=IP_SET_FILENAME

As --not-sipset for the next hop IP address. See also --not-nhcidr.

Partitioning Switches for Remainder of Five-Tuple

The following switches partition based on the protocol and source or destination port. The parameter to each of these switches is an INTEGER_LIST, which is a comma-separated list of individual non-negative integer values and ranges of those values. For example, "1,2,3,5-10,99-103". A range may be specified without an upper limit, such as "1-", in which case the upper limit is set to the maximum value.

--sport=INTEGER_LIST

Pass the record if its source port is in this INTEGER_LIST, possible values are 0-65535.

--dport=INTEGER_LIST

Pass the record if its destination port is in this INTEGER_LIST, possible values are 0-65535

--aport=INTEGER_LIST

Pass the record if its source port and/or its destination port is in this INTEGER_LIST, possible values are 0-65535. For example, use --aport=25 to see all SMTP conversions regardless or where they originated.

--protocol=INTEGER_LIST

Pass the record if its IP Suite Protocol is in this INTEGER_LIST, possible values are 0-255.

--icmp-type=INTEGER_LIST

Pass the record if its ICMP (or ICMPv6) type is in this INTEGER_LIST; possible values 0-255. This switch also verifies that the flow's protocol is 1 (or 58 if the flow is IPv6). It is an error to specify a --protocol that does not include 1 and/or 58.

--icmp-code=INTEGER_LIST

Pass the record if its ICMP (or ICMPv6) code is in this INTEGER_LIST; possible values 0-255. This switch also verifies that the flow's protocol is 1 (or 58 if the flow is IPv6). It is an error to specify a --protocol that does not include 1 and/or 58.

Partitioning Switches for Time

These switches partition based on whether the time stamps on the flow record occur within the specified time window. The form of the argument is range of two dates, start-window and end-window, each in the form "YYYY/MM/DD[:HH[:MM[:SS[.ssssss]]]]", for example "2003/01/31:23:45:00.000-2003/01/31:23:59:59.999" represents the last fifteen minutes of Jan 31, 2003. (A "T" may be used in place of ":" to separate the day and hour.) The start-window and end-window must be set to at least day precision. For the start-window, unspecified hour, minute, second, and millisecond values are set to 0; for the end-window, those values are set to 23, 59, 59, and 999 respectively. Thus "2003/01/31:23-2003/01/31:23" becomes "2003/01/31:23:00:00.000-2003/01/31:23:59:59.999". If an end-window is not given, it is set to the start-window, giving a window of a single millisecond. The date strings are considered to be in the timezone specified when SiLK was compiled, which you can determine from the output of rwfilter --version. You may also specify the times as seconds since the UNIX epoch; when the end-time is in epoch seconds, an unspecified milliseconds value is set to 999 and otherwise the value is unchanged.

--active-time=TIME_WINDOW

Pass the record if the record was active at ANY time during this TIME_WINDOW. If a single time is specified, pass the record if it was active at that instant.

--stime=TIME_WINDOW

Pass the record if its starting time is in this TIME_WINDOW.

--etime=TIME_WINDOW

As --stime for the ending time.

--duration=DECIMAL_RANGE

Pass the record if its duration--that is, the record's end time minus its start time, as measured in seconds--is in this DECIMAL_RANGE. Use floating point numbers to specify millisecond values. The range should be specified as MIN-MAX; for example, "5.0-10.031". If a single value is given, the duration must match that value exactly. The upper limit may be omitted; for example, a range of "1.5-" passes records whose duration is at least 1.5 seconds.

Partitioning Switches for Volume

The following switches partition based on the volume of the flow; that is, the number of bytes or packets. For additional volume-related switches, load the flowrate plug-in as described in the flowrate(3) manual page.

These switches accept a range of non-negative integers or decimal values. If the upper limit is omitted, the volume must be at least that size. If the argument is a single value, the volume must match that value exactly.

--bytes=INTEGER_RANGE

Pass the record if its byte count is in this INTEGER_RANGE.

--packets=INTEGER_RANGE

Pass the record if its packet count is in this INTEGER_RANGE.

--bytes-per-packet=DECIMAL_RANGE

Pass the record if its average bytes per packet count (bytes/packet) is in this DECIMAL_RANGE.

Partitioning Switches for TCP Flags

When a flow generator creates a flow record from TCP packets, it creates a field that is the bit-wise OR of the TCP flags from all packets that comprise that flow record. Some flow generators, such as yaf (1), can export two TCP flag fields: one contains the flags on the first packet in the flow, and the second contains the bit-wise OR of the remaining packets.

To partition records based on their TCP flags values, there is a recommended set of switches and legacy-supported switches. The switches accept the following letters to represent the named TCP flag: "F"=FIN; "S"=SYN; "R"=RST; "P"=PSH; "A"=ACK; "U"=URG; "E"=ECE; "C"=CWR.

The recommended set of switches take a comma separated list of pairs of TCP flags, where the pair is separated by a slash (/). The value to the left of the slash is the HIGH_SET and it must be a subset of the value to the right of the slash, which is the MASK_SET. For a record to pass the filter, the flags in the HIGH_SET must be on and the remaining flags in MASK_SET must be off. Flags not in MASK_SET may have any value. If a list of pairs is given, the record passes if any pair in the list matches. For example, "--flags-all=S/S,A/A" passes flows that have either the SYN or the ACK flag set, "--flags-all=S/SA" passes flow records where SYN is high and ACK is low, and "--flags-all=/F" passes flows where FIN is off. This list of flag pairs is called a HIGH_MASK_FLAGS_LIST.

The recommended switches for TCP flag partitioning are:

--flags-all=HIGH_MASK_FLAGS_LIST

Pass the record if any of the HIGH_SET/MASK_SET pairs is true when looking at the bit-wise OR of the TCP flags across all packets in the flow.

--flags-initial=HIGH_MASK_FLAGS_LIST

As --flags-all, except this switch considers only the initial packet in the flow, for flow generators that can generate that field.

--flags-session=HIGH_MASK_FLAGS_LIST

As --flags-all, except this switch considers the bit-wise OR of the TCP flags across the second through the final packet in the flow; that is, ignoring the flags on the first packet.

The TCP-flag partitioning switches supported for legacy reasons are:

--tcp-flags=TCP_FLAGS

Pass the record if, for any one of its packets, any of the specified TCP_FLAGS was on, where TCP_FLAGS contains the letters "F","S","R","P","A","U","E","C". For example, --tcp-flags=ASF passes records where ACK is set, or SYN is set, or FIN is set.

--ack-flag={0|1}

Set to 0, only passes records where the ACK Flag is Low, Set to 1, only passes records where the ACK Flag is high.

--cwr-flag={0|1}

As --ack-flag for the CWR Flag

--ece-flag={0|1}

As --ack-flag for the ECE Flag

--fin-flag={0|1}

As --ack-flag for the ACK Flag

--psh-flag={0|1}

As --ack-flag for the PSH Flag

--rst-flag={0|1}

As --ack-flag for the RST Flag

--syn-flag={0|1}

As --ack-flag for the SYN Flag

--urg-flag={0|1}

As --ack-flag for the URG Flag

Partitioning Switches for Other Flow Characteristics

Other than the --ip-version switch, the fields queried by the following switches may always be zero. The default configuration of SiLK does not store the fields that contain the SNMP values. The other fields are not present in NetFlow v5, and require use of properly-configured enhanced collection software, such as yaf(1), <http://tools.netsa.cert.org/yaf/>.

--ip-version={4|6|4,6}

Passes the record if its IP Version is in the specified list. This switch determines how IPv4 and IPv6 flow records are handled when SiLK has been compiled with IPv6 support. When the argument to this switch is 4, rwfilter writes records marked as IPv6 to the fail-destination, regardless of the IP addresses it contains. When the argument to this switch is 6, rwfilter writes records marked as IPv4 to the fail-destination. When SiLK has not been compiled with IPv6 support, the only legal value for this switch is 4, and any IPv6 flows in the input ignored (that is, they are not written to either the pass-destination nor the fail-destination).

--application=INTEGER_LIST

Some flow generation software can inspect the contents of the packets that comprise a flow and use traffic signatures to label the content of the flow. SiLK calls this label the application; yaf refers to it as the appLabel (see the applabel(1) manual page in the yaf distribution). The application value is the port number that is traditionally used for that type of traffic (see the /etc/services file on most UNIX systems). For example, traffic that the flow generator recognizes as FTP has a value of 21, even if that traffic is being routed through the standard HTTP/web port (80). The flow generator uses a value for 0 if the application cannot be determined. The --application switch passes the flow if the flow's application value is in the specified INTEGER_LIST, which is a comma separated list of integers from 0 to 65535 inclusive and ranges of those integers. The list of valid appLabels is determined by your site's yaf installation.

--attributes=ATTRIBUTES_LIST

The attributes field in SiLK Flow records describes characteristics about how the flow record was generated or about the packets that comprise the flow record. The ATTRIBUTES_LIST argument is similar to the HIGH_MASK_FLAGS_LIST argument to the --flags-all switch. ATTRIBUTES_LIST is a comma separated list of up to 8 HIGH_ATTRIBUTES/MASK_ATTRIBUTES pairs, where HIGH_ATTRIBUTES and MASK_ATTRIBUTES are strings of the characters "S","T","C","F", and HIGH_ATTRIBUTES is a subset of MASK_ATTRIBUTES. rwfilter passes the record if, for any pair of attributes in the list, the attributes listed in HIGH_ATTRIBUTES are set and the remaining attributes in MASK_ATTRIBUTES are not-set. The valid attributes are:

--input-index=INTEGER_LIST

Pass the record if its "in" field is in this INTEGER_LIST, which is a comma separated list of integers from 0 to 65535, inclusive, and ranges of those integers. When present, the "in" field normally contains the incoming SNMP interface, but it may contain the vlanId if the packing tools were configured to capture it (see sensor.conf(5)).

--output-index=INTEGER_LIST

Pass the record if its "out" field is in this INTEGER_LIST. When present, the "out" field normally contains the outgoing SNMP interface, but it may contain the postVlanId if the packing tools were configured to capture it.

--any-index=INTEGER_LIST

Pass the record if its "in" field or if its "out" field is in this INTEGER_LIST.

Selection Switches Acting as Partitioning Switches

The following four switches are normally file selection switches, that is they select which files rwfilter reads within the data repository. However, when rwfilter gets input without querying the data repository (that is, from files listed on the command line, from files specified by --xargs, or from the --input-pipe), these switches become partitioning switches and determine whether a record is written to the pass-destination or fail-destination.

--class=CLASS

Pass the record if its class is CLASS and its type is listed in the --type switch, or its type is in the default type list for CLASS when --type is not specified. Use rwfilter --help to see the list of available classes and types, and the defaults.

--flowtypes=CLASS/TYPE[,CLASS/TYPE ...]

Pass the record its if class/type value is one of those listed. The keyword "all" may be used for the CLASS and/or TYPE to select all classes and/or types. This switch cannot be used when either --class or --type is used. Use rwfilter --help to see the list of available classes and types.

--sensors=SENSOR[,SENSOR ...]

Pass the record if its sensor is one of those listed. The parameter is a comma separated list of sensor names, sensor IDs (integers), and/or ranges of sensor IDs. Use the rwsiteinfo(1) command to see the list of sensors.

--type={"all" | TYPE[,TYPE]}

Pass the record if its type is one of those listed and its class is specified by --class, or its class is the default class when the --class switch is not specified. Use rwfilter --help to see the list of available classes and types, and the defaults.

Partitioning Switches that use Additional Mapping Files

Additional partitioning switches are available that allow one to partition flow records depending on a label, where the label is computed from an IP address or port on the record and an additional mapping file.

--pmap-file=PATH

--pmap-file=MAPNAME:PATH

Load the prefix map file located at PATH and create partitioning switches named --pmap-src-map-name, --pmap-dst-map-name, and --pmap-any-map-name where map-name is either the MAPNAME part of the argument or the map-name specified when the file was created (see rwpmapbuild(1)). If no map-name is available, rwfilter creates switch names as described below (--pmap-saddress, --pmap-sport-proto, etc). Specify PATH as "-" or "stdin" to read from the standard input. The switch may be repeated to load multiple prefix map files; each file must have a unique map-name. The --pmap-file switch(es) must precede all other --pmap-* switches. For more information, see pmapfilter(3).

--pmap-src-map-name=LABELS

If the prefix map associated with map-name is an IP prefix map, this matches records with a source IPv4 address that maps to a label contained in the list of labels in LABELS. If the prefix map associated with map-name is a proto-port prefix map, this matches records with a protocol and source port combination that maps to a label contained in the list of labels in LABELS.

--pmap-dst-map-name=LABELS

Similar to --pmap-src-map-name, but uses the destination IP or the protocol and destination port.

--pmap-any-map-name=LABELS

If the prefix map associated with map-name is an IP prefix map, this matches records with a source IP address or a destination IP address that maps to a label contained in the list of labels in LABELS. If the prefix map associated with map-name is a port/protocol prefix map, this matches records with a protocol and source port or destination port combination that maps to a label contained in the list of labels in LABELS.

--pmap-saddress=LABELS

--pmap-daddress=LABELS

--pmap-any-address=LABELS

These are deprecated switches created by pmapfilter that correspond to --pmap-src-map-name, --pmap-dst-map-name, and --pmap-any-map-name, respectively. These switches are available when an IP prefix map is used that is not associated with a map-name.

--pmap-sport-proto=LABELS

--pmap-dport-proto=LABELS

--pmap-any-port-proto=LABELS

These are deprecated switches created by pmapfilter that correspond to --pmap-src-map-name, --pmap-dst-map-name, and --pmap-any-map-name, respectively. These switches are available when a proto-port prefix map is used that is not associated with a map-name.

--scc=COUNTRY_CODE_LIST

--dcc=COUNTRY_CODE_LIST

--any-cc=COUNTRY_CODE_LIST

Pass the record if one its IP addresses maps to a country code that is specified in COUNTRY_CODE_LIST. For --scc, the source IP must match. For --dcc, the destination IP must match. For --any-cc, either the source or the destination must match. COUNTRY_CODE_LIST is a comma separated list of lowercase two-letter country codes---defined by ISO 3166-1 (see for example <https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html> or <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2>)---as well as the following special codes:

--stype={0|1|2|3}

--dtype={0|1|2|3}

Pass a flow record depending on whether the IP address is internal, external, or non-routable. These switches use the mapping file specified by the SILK_ADDRESS_TYPES environment variable, or the address_types.pmap mapping file, as described in addrtype (3). When the parameter is 0, pass the record if its source (--stype) IP address or destination (--dtype) IP address is non-routable. When 1, pass if internal. When 2, pass if external (i.e., routable but not internal). When 3, pass if not internal (non-routable or external).

Partitioning Switches across Multiple Fields

The --tuple-* family of switches allows the user to partition flow records based on multiple values of the five-tuple.

--tuple-file=TUPLE_FILENAME

This switch provides support for partitioning by arbitrary subsets of the basic five-tuple:

 {source-ip,destination-ip,source-port,destination-ip-port,protocol}
    

A SiLK Flow record passes the test when the record's fields match one of the tuples; if the SiLK record does not match any tuple, the record fails. The tuples are read from the text file TUPLE_FILENAME which must contain lines of delimited fields. The default delimiter is "|", but may be specified with the --tuple-delimiter switch. Each field contains one member of the tuple; the fields may appear in any order. The fields may represent any subset of the five-tuple, but each line in the file must define the same subset. A field that is present but has no value generates an error. If you want the field to match any value, it is best that you not include that field in your input.

In addition to the tuple-lines, TUPLE_FILENAME may contain blank lines and comments (which begin with "#" and continue to the end of the line). The first line of TUPLE_FILENAME may contain a title labeling the fields in the file. This title line is ignored when the --tuple-fields switch is given.

The IP fields may contain an IPv4 address, an integer, or a IP in CIDR block notation. Comma-separated lists ("80,443") and ranges ("0-1023,8080") are supported for the ports and protocol fields. NOTE: Currently the code is not clever in its support for CIDR notation and ranges in that each occurrence is fully expanded. When this occurs, the memory required to hold the search tree quickly grows.

--tuple-fields=FIELDS

FIELDS contains the list of fields (columns) to parse from the TUPLE_FILENAME in the order in which they appear in the file. When this switch is not provided, rwfilter treats the first line in TUPLE_FILENAME as a title line and attempts to determine the fields (a la rwtuc(1)); rwfilter exits if it cannot determine the fields.

FIELDS is a comma separated list of field-names, field-integers, and ranges of field-integers; a range is specified by separating the start and end of the range with a hyphen (-). Names can be abbreviated to their shortest unique prefix. The field names and their descriptions are:

--tuple-direction=DIRECTION

Allows you to change the comparison between the tuple and the SiLK Flow record. This switch allows one to look for traffic in the reverse direction (or both directions) without having to write all of the rules twice. The available directions are:

--tuple-delimiter=CHAR

Specifies the character separating the input fields. When the switch is not provided, the default of "|" is used.

Partitioning Switches that use the PySiLK Plug-in

The SiLK Python plug-in provides support for filtering by expressions or complex functions written in the Python programming language. See the silkpython(3) and pysilk(3) manual pages for information and examples for how to use Python to manipulate SiLK data structures. When multiple Partitioning Switches are given, the Python plug-in is the next-to-last to be invoked. Only the code specified by the --plugin switch is called after the Python code.

--python-file=FILENAME

Pass the record if the result of the processing the flow with the function named rwfilter() in FILENAME is true. The function should take a single silk.RWRec object as an argument. See silkpython(3) for details.

--python-expr=PYTHON_EXPRESSION

Pass the record if the result of the processing the flow with the specified PYTHON_EXPRESSION is true. The expression is evaluated as if it appeared in the following context:

 from silk import *
 def rwfilter(rec):
     return (PYTHON_EXPRESSION)
    

Partitioning Switches that use the IP-Association Plug-In

The IPA plug-in, ipafilter.so, provides switches that can partition flows using data in an IP Association database. For this plug-in to be available, SiLK must be compiled with IPA support and IPA must be configured. See ipafilter(3) and <http://tools.netsa.cert.org/ipa/> for additional information.

--ipa-src-expr=IPA_EXPR

Use IPA_EXPR to partition flows based on the source IP of the flow matching the IPA_EXPR expression.

--ipa-dst-expr=IPA_EXPR

Use IPA_EXPR to partition flows based on the destination IP of the flow matching the IPA_EXPR expression.

--ipa-any-expr=IPA_EXPR

Use IPA_EXPR to partition flows based on either the source or destination IP of the flow matching the IPA_EXPR expression.

Miscellaneous Switches

--compression-method=COMP_METHOD

Specify the compression library to use when writing output files. If this switch is not given, the value in the SILK_COMPRESSION_METHOD environment variable is used if the value names an available compression method. When no compression method is specified, output to the standard output or to named pipes is not compressed, and output to files is compressed using the default chosen when SiLK was compiled. The valid values for COMP_METHOD are determined by which external libraries were found when SiLK was compiled. To see the available compression methods and the default method, use the --help or --version switch. SiLK can support the following COMP_METHOD values when the required libraries are available.

--dry-run

Perform a sanity check on the input arguments to check that the arguments are acceptable. In addition, prints to the standard output the names of the files that would be accessed (and the names of missing files if --print-missing is specified). rwfglob(1) can also be used to generate the lists of files that rwfilter would access.

--help

Print the available options and exit. Options that add fields (for example, options that load plug-ins, prefix maps, or PySiLK extensions) can be specified before the --help switch so that the new options appear in the output. The available classes and types are included in output; you may specify a different root directory or site configuration file before --help to see the classes and types available for that site.

--max-fail-records=N

Write N records to each --fail-destination. rwfilter stops reading input once it has written these N records unless --pass-destination or --all-destination switch(es) are also specified.

--max-pass-records=N

Write N records to each --pass-destination. rwfilter stops reading input once it has written these N records unless --fail-destination or --all-destination switch(es) are also specified.

--note-add=TEXT

Add the specified TEXT to the header of the output file as an annotation. This switch may be repeated to add multiple annotations to a file. To view the annotations, use the rwfileinfo(1) tool.

--note-file-add=FILENAME

Open FILENAME and add the contents of that file to the header of the output file as an annotation. This switch may be repeated to add multiple annotations. Currently the application makes no effort to ensure that FILENAME contains text; be careful that you do not attempt to add a SiLK data file as an annotation.

--plugin=PLUGIN

Augment the partitioning switches by using run-time loading of the plug-in (shared object) whose path is PLUGIN. The switch may be repeated to load multiple plug-ins. The creation of plug-ins is described in the silk-plugin(3) manual page. When multiple partitioning switches are given, the code specified by the --plugin switch(es) is last to be invoked. When PLUGIN does not contain a slash ("/"), rwfilter attempts to find a file named PLUGIN in the directories listed in the "FILES" section. If rwfilter finds the file, it uses that path. If PLUGIN contains a slash or if rwfilter does not find the file, rwfilter relies on your operating system's dlopen(3) call to find the file. When the SILK_PLUGIN_DEBUG environment variable is non-empty, rwfilter prints status messages to the standard error as it attempts to find and open each of its plug-ins.

--print-filenames

Print the names of input files as they are read. This can be useful feedback for a long-running rwfilter process.

--site-config-file=FILENAME

Read the SiLK site configuration from the named file FILENAME. When this switch is not provided, rwfilter searches for the site configuration file in the locations specified in the "FILES" section.

--threads=N

Invoke rwfilter with N threads reading the input files. When this switch is not provided, the value in the SILK_RWFILTER_THREADS environment variable is used. If that variable is not set, rwfilter runs with a single thread. Using multiple threads, performance of rwfilter is greatly improved for queries that look at many files but return few records. Preliminary testing has found that performance peaks around four threads per CPU, but performance varies depending on the type of query and the number of records returned.

--version

Print the version number and information about how SiLK was configured, then exit the application.